Ethical Autonoid System

Waging war from time immemorial, humans have constantly been fighting against each other for various causes. Despite the improvement of warfighting technology, the fundamental nature of war remains largely similar. While technology has been able to distance the warfighters from the physical battlefield, these technologies have always required the human touch in its decision matrix. However, with the recent advancement of artificial intelligence technology, the idea of removing man from the battlefield decision loop has become an achievable and likely goal. In his work “The Case for Ethical Autonomy in Unmanned Systems”, Arkin argues for the ethical case of fielding autonomous unmanned system in light of the benefits it produces. Contrary to …show more content…
In the physical aspect, the benefits of an autonomous system far exceed the human capability. Without the human emotion of fear, a lethal autonomous system is able to place the mission before self and to make decisions previously impossible from a human operator. Their hardware and software can be programmed for various actions, making them more versatile in a spectrum of mission compared to limitation placed by the training required by a human. Furthermore, the use of such system allows for better integration of sensors and information to streamline the decision making process in the battlefield. Along with physical advantages, the Arkin’s thesis of a lethal autonomous system being more ethical than human soldiers was built upon the grounds of Mill’s utilitarianism and Kant’s Deontology in the ethical …show more content…
The first consideration would be the requirement of distinction within the Just War Theory (JWT). Developed through the centuries by various entities, the JWT encompasses the human experience in war in an attempt to reduce the atrocities of the battlefield. The JWT is divided into two separate categories, namely the Jus Ad Bellum, which governs the actions leading up to war and Jus In Bello, which governs the actions of parties in war. For the lethal autonomous system to be deemed as an ethical system, it needs to meet all criteria of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity. With sufficient system programming, proportionality and military necessity can be met through the coding of the systems decision matrix. By calculating the risk taken by each shot, the lethal autonomous system can prove to be more effective than a human soldier in identifying the proportionality and military necessity. However, the issue of distinction remains largely in a grey area in modern battlefield. Unlike the massive battlefields and army maneuvers conducted in wars prior to the Vietnam war, the overwhelming dominance of the United States military has steered warfare into the current form of insurgency warfare. By relying on the close proximity and often support of the insurgents from